NBA urges Buhari to set up panel of inquiry over invasion of justice Odili’s home

The president of the Nigerian Bar Association (NBA) Olumide Akpata has called on President Muhammadu Buhari to immediately set up an independent Panel of Inquiry to fish out all those behind the invasion of Justice Mary Odili’s residence.

Akpata also demanded that the veil of secrecy behind those who directed the raid must be torn to shreds for them to be brought to justice.

Akpata, who made the call at a news conference on Friday, said NBA is disturbed by the raid in the home of the number two judicial officer in Nigeria, as well as the denials as to who authorised the raid.

“If there is denial as to who authorised the raid, the question then is: who authorised the raid?

“The attack on the home of Hon. Justice Odili is an attack on the Constitution and the rule of law, since judicial officers have the protection of the law.

“It is simply an attempt to intimidate the judiciary; this is the main reason the NBA is involved,” he explained.

To this end, Akpata appointed the Chairman of the NBA Section on Public Interest and Development Law (NBA-SPIDEL), Dr. Monday Ubani to serve as the NBA’s Special Investigator to unmask those behind the attack on Justice Odili’s home and to ensure that those individuals are made to face the law.

He also added that Ubani is to work closely with the head of Public Interest Litigation committee of NBA, Dr. Charles Mekwunye, to execute the task.

Akpata noted that the association would call out and discipline any of their members who is found to have been part of the despicable attempt to ridicule the judiciary.

“If the Attorney General Federation (AGF), Abubakar Malami is found culpable, then as lawyers, he will be taken before the legal practitioners disciplinary committee and if he is found to have given the directives that led to the invasion of the home of the justice of the Supreme Court, then he is not fit to hold the office that he occupies presently and still continue to be the recipient of the privileges that the profession has accorded to him,” he stressed.

Akpata further assured of delivering weekly updates on the progress of the investigation.